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Get Your GOP Hands Off My Medicare

In the early days, the iconic image of D.C.-hating Tea Partiers was a sign reading: “Keep your government hands off my Medicare.” Occasionally their protest placards added a little profanity to that directive. Right now, though, Tea Partiers should be cursing their Republican bedfellows.

While privately laughing at a group that would demand the government keep its hands off of a government program, Republicans propped up Tea Partiers, with corporate-backed groups like Americans for the Prosperous giving them untold millions in funding.

Soon after President Obama was first elected, a ragtag bunch of protesters, egged on by rabid right-wing talk show hosts, took to public squares with Gadsten Flags and signs protesting the Wall Street bailout, government in general and any attempt to cut Medicare or Social Security. Conservative, libertarian and business groups seized this opportunity, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/2010/0919/Who-s-picking-up-the-ta... the supposedly grassroots groups with massive financial backing. </a>

Together, right-wing money and “grassroots” Tea Partiers, supported GOP candidates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who promised to destroy the Affordable Care Act, even though it was based on a health insurance plan Romney had instituted as governor of Massachusetts.

At first, the GOP and Tea Party thought it was all good. They hate the government, so shutting it down was fun for them. They hate the Affordable Care Act, so plotting extortion to destroy it was a kick for them.

By contrast, the Affordable Care Act seemed to get high favorability ratings. After the exchanges opened on Oct. 1, high demand caused delays and crashes on the web site where the uninsured could sign up for coverage.

And then there was what must have felt like a real smack in Tea Party face. Koch Industries, owned by the Koch brothers, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/us/kochs-and-other-conservatives-split... a letter to members of Congress Wednesday</a> denying that Koch had supported shutting down the government to extract defunding of the Affordable Care Act. Instead, Koch claimed it supported reducing government debt and spending.

And that’s exactly what Ryan offered. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230344200457912394366916789... other things, he wants to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security</a>. In the past, Ryan and Republicans have proposed privatizing Social Security and voucherizing Medicare. In both cases, the government would tell the elderly: “You are on your own, grandma.” If your investments don’t work out, eat cat food. If you can’t afford the cost of medical care beyond what the voucher will pay, go lie down and die.

Like their original confusion about who provides them with Medicare, the Tea Partiers have it all muddled again. They’re crying about 50 million uninsured Americans retaining access to doctors under the Affordable Care Act instead of protesting, as they did in their early days, the Republican attempt to strangle Medicare.

Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid and other crucial government programs that benefit all Americans can be saved. For a start: Lift the cap on Social Security taxes so that they’re paid on all income <a href="http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/240/~/social-securit... Medicare taxes are.</a> Tax capital gains at the same rate wages are. Mandate competition by drug companies providing pharmaceuticals under Medicare Part D.

That is what the Tea Party should be demanding. Their signs should read: Get your dirty GOP hands off my Medicare!

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